Father, Mother, Nightwatcher, JungleGhost, TechSupport and TurtleGuy
by littlebabyturtlelove
Summary: A sort of continuation to my Father, Mother, and four little babies story)Leo left for Central America, leaving his brother's behind to somehow manage their lives without their leader. They have all tried to move on, but evil always manages to return. "Oh come on! First weird monsters, now freaky stone dudes! Are you kidding?"Arinna screamed,"Give us a break!"
1. The day my son left

**_Is this... IT IS! STORY # 7 is officially up and ready! _**

**_You guys... you are really determined little readers, aren't you? I've never seen anyone more persistent then you guys! You all just wouldn't stop messaging me about doing a fanfic on the 2007 movie, would ya? XD _**

**_Well, I'll be honest, I didn't really mind the constant messaging. I'm glad you guys really wanted to see this fanfic. So, I'll stop talking so you can all start this off. _**

**_For those who don't know, I would read my other stories to learn a little about Arinna. If not, you can still continue to read this story. I've re-explained a bit of how Arinna came into the picture, so I hope you all will give her a chance. _**

**_THANK YOU ALL! I apologize before hand for any spelling and/or grammar errors you might find. _**

_The hardest thing for any parent, is watching their child leave. They know it is for the best, and that they can't be there for them forever but… it is still hard. _

_To not be able to see their smiling faces everyday…_

_I'll be honest with you all, weird audience in my brain known as Fanfiction Readers… I wasn't prepared. In all my life after meeting Hamato Splinter, I never once gave a thought to what would happen after my children left. _

_Because well… I never really thought they would leave. I know that sounds weird, and maybe even selfish, but it is true. _

_Since they are, y'know, giant mutant turtles. It isn't like they can go off to college or anything. So I thought they would always stay here in the lair in New York with Splinter and me. _

_Oh hey, wait a minute… some of you are new, aren't you? You have no idea who I am. _

_Sorry about that. My name is Arinna. If you want to be technical, my full name is Arinna Kentin. I don't like to be technical though, so please, just call me Arinna. I've never liked my last name. _

_Anyway, I'm a mother of four and currently living in the sewers below New York City with my dear friend, Splinter. _

_Yeah, he's a rat. _

_No, I'm serious. He is a rat. _

_Oh don't give me that look. I'm telling you the truth. There was this whole thing with mutagen that mutated a rat and four baby turtles and there was a big fight with this guy name Shredder and well… the rest is history. _

_How did I come into the picture? Well, I found Splinter and the boys in the sewers around 15 years ago. I couldn't leave them so I just… stayed with them. _

_Anyway, less about that, more about what I was talking about before. _

_It has been almost a year and 6month since Leonardo, my oldest son left to train in South America. Though I'm not sure why he chose there of all places to go to. _

_Not saying I think his choice is bad or anything, I'm just… I guess I would have just preferred if he stayed here, in New York. _

_Watching him go… it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. _

_By Splinter's order though, Leo had left quickly, almost without a word. I honestly wasn't ever sure if Leonardo and Raphael had even said good-bye to each other. I hoped they did. _

_I remember the night he left was quite, no one truly knowing what to say. _

_Donatello was to be put in charge in Leonardo's absence, and he looked nervous to do so. Leonardo had placed a hand on his shoulder, telling him he would do fine. Those words seem to comfort Donnie a bit. _

_Mikey was blabbering on and on about how Leo had to get him souvenirs. _

_Splinter must have said his good byes back at the lair, for he only sent Leo a nod, and a pat on the back. That seemed enough for my oldest though as he finally made it to me. _

_I didn't want him to leave. But then again, what parent truly wants to send their child out into the world alone. I had to though. He knew what he had to do, and I wasn't going to slow him down. _

_Doesn't mean I wasn't upset about it. Last week when Splinter told me Leo was leaving by his orders… I was so mad. I honestly haven't spoken to Splinter since. My brain is telling me that Splinter must have a reason for doing this. That is for some great good. _

_But my heart… my heart just won't stop hammering, telling me this will bring only pain and trouble to the family. I want to believe in Splinter's choice though. I also want to believe in Leo's choices, since he was the one who agreed to go. So I am holding myself back, trying to keep a smile on my face… for him. _

_Pulling a small smile onto my face, I smiled at my oldest son, pulling him into a tight hug. _

_ "Train hard." I whispered into his ear. _

_"I will. I promise." He whispered back, his voice strangled, as if he had to force it out. When we pulled away, Leo turned to his family, frowning. _

_"…Raph?" he asked, looking around to see if his hotheaded brother was anywhere in sight. _

_However, my second oldest had never shown up that night. When we saw him the next morning, he did not wish to explain where he had been, or why he had missed his brother's departure. _

_Nothing Splinter tried would get Raphael_ to speak, so we left it as it was.

_Most of our thoughts were on Leonardo anyway. _

_The original plan was that Leo would spend half a year down in South America, and then return. Half a year. Six months. I could pull that off. I could push through that, sure. _

_However, when the 4 month marker rolled around, Splinter received a single letter from Leo, explaining how he didn't feel ready to return, and would stay where he was for a bit longer._

_A little bit longer changed into months, and eventually, an extra year. An extra year… was much harder to push through._

_The family struggled to get by, all of us choosing different ways to spend out time with his absence. Since Leo was gone, the boys training had slowed down. There weren't many enemies on the surface as there once was. The Foot was gone, and the only problems there seemed to be were minor thieves. Nothing big. _

_So Donatello and Michelangelo got jobs to help support me with the family. _

_Don become a member of Tech Support, while Michelangelo got into the entertainment business. _

_He was this cute little party entertainer. He was so cute in his little turtle mask! Honestly, when he came home telling my what sort of job he got, I laughed my head off! I mean, I never would have thought he would have gotten a job where he dressed up as a Turtle when he himself is a turtle! It was too cute!_

_Raphael though, he stayed up later into the night. I'm not sure what he was doing, but he's begun to stay out all night long, and sleep all day. _

_I worry that what he is doing is dangerous, but then again, when was this family ever perfectly safe? If Leonardo was still here, I'm sure all three of them would be out in the city right now, fighting bad guys anyway. _

_Splinter continued on with his normal schedule. Training himself, and meditating within his room. And of course, there were his soap_ opera shows. _Heh, he always loved those_. _He even has me hooked on a few!_

_Oh, and what of me? Well, the normal things I suppose. I clean, cook, get lost in my own thoughts, and try to keep everything in order the best I can. With Leonardo absent though, and our home growing more and more quiet, I had to find other things to keep myself occupied. _

_I tried to completely immerse myself in my training. It worked at first, but it could never truly fill the gap I felt in my heart. I needed something to get my thoughts off my chest. _

_I ended up calling up an old friend of mine named Nicole. She worked some things together and she got me a job. _

_So um… yeah, I sort of… started my own radio station. That's right, you heard me correctly. I run a Radio Station. _

_…I see those looks, don't deny them! You're probably laughing! Aren't you! Well stop it! It is actually a very great station. _

_It is basically like I'm a talk show host. I get all sort of calls in and requests to play songs. My main station is at Nicole's Auto shop. She was kind enough to turn one of her rooms into a sound booth for me to use. _

_I usually play songs made by those bands that aren't well known and trying to get popular. _

_It is great. I can easily get my feelings off my chest and try to help others along the way. _

_The audience I have is super nice too, and very supportive. I think they like my station because they can get out their problems as well. _

_They even helped me a few months back. When… Well, this is what happened…_

About 6 months after Leo left to train, when he was suppose to return, he sent Master Splinter a letter; explaining how he wished to extend his training time.

We were all shocked by this, but couldn't convince him to come back. Though Raph said he was glad not having Leo around… I think he was most hurt by this news.

After a few more weeks, Leo sent his last letter to me, as a sort of explanation to what he was going to do.

_Dear Mother,_

_I'm apologizing for how long it took for this letter to reach you. To be honest, I wasn't sure how to go about writing it. So I thought I should just say what is on my mind. _

_How are the guys doing? From your last letter you said that Don and Mikey found work? You didn't say what it was they was doing, but I can only imagine Mikey is doing something that only 'the great Michelangelo' can do. _

_I also hope Master Splinter is watching out for his cholesterol. Donnie said that it had gotten a little high lately from cake. I guess you guys have been having a lot of parties or something. _

_I haven't heard from Raph in a few months. He probably doesn't want to talk to me. I just hope he is at least trying to stay out of trouble. _

_I hope you are doing okay as well. Sorry I'm not there to help you keep things in order. Hopefully the guys aren't driving you crazy or anything. _

There had been a change of ink after that. It was as if Leo had stopped writing the letter for a few days before he continued. The next part, I wish he had sent in a different letter. Or perhaps, never sent at all.

**_I'm sorry Mother. I know I said that I would be back months ago, but I have something I need to do here. I know Splinter and you understand, because you always do. I just hope the guys will too. _**

**_I have a lot on my mind, and much I have to do. I'm not sure when I will be able to write next. Perhaps not at all. So just in case this is most likely my last letter I send you for a long while, I just wanted to say, thanks for everything. _**

**_I'll train hard, and try to get back home soon. I wont fail you._**

**_-Leonardo-_**

We haven't heard a word from Leonardo since. I worry that he may be in danger, or worse, but Splinter says I should believe in our son's return.

I do believe in him.

I just worry about what his absence will do- no, what it will continue to do.

It has torn a large gap between the family.

Just yesterday though, for the next two weeks, April explained how she would be heading down to South America for work. She promised to search for Leonardo while she was down there.

_South America is a very big place. I hope she finds him. _

**_AND WE HAVE FINISHED CHAPTER ONE! WAHOO! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! _**

**_I feel that if Arinna did anything else with her life she would either become a kindergarten teacher, run her own radio station, or become a nurse. One of those XD _**


	2. Finding a Ghost

_My name, is April O'Neil. _

_I'm an adventurer, semi-detective, trainee in the art of Ninjitsu/Kung-fu, and currently I'm traveling through Central America. _

_Yeah, quick intro there. Sorry. I would talk more about myself, but I'm currently busy. So I'm going to get straight to the point. _

_ I got sent here to Central America on this request to collect these four ancient statues for this big corporate billionaire. He's got a thing for old statues I guess. _

_I found the statues yesterday, but I won't be heading back to New York just yet. I have another reason for being down here. _

_I'm here looking for an old friend. The son of one of my best friends. _

_His name is Leonardo. _

_He was sent down here almost 2 years ago for a training mission. The only problem is that he was supposed to have come home over a year ago. He never did though, and from what I can tell, he didn't exactly put to much detail as to why. _

_I was going to find him though and get those answers. I had to make sure Leo was okay. I had to. _

_So I've been following these rumors going around in nearby villages on a 'Ghost of the Forest' type of person. From what I've heard, this so called "ghost" is starting to sound more and more familiar. _

_I had to check it out. _

_So I went to the village that had seen him last. Apparently, two days before, the Ghost had saved them from these creeps who were robbing the village for protection money. The ghost had brought everything back, and the villagers hadn't seen those creeps since. _

_So when I got to the village and started asking around, not many people had actually seen the ghost for themselves. However, one kid said he had gotten a pretty good look at him. _

_He said that the Ghost wasn't extremely tall, and looked like he blended into the forest with his green skin. _

_Green Skin was definitely a large sign for me that I was on the first track. _

_ "_There." The boy pointed up towards a tree, where someone could easily stand, keeping watching over the village.

Removing my sunglasses, I stared up at the tree. Leo always did like look-out spots, and it seemed like a perfect match. I shouldn't get my hopes up yet though. "You better get home now." I said to the boy, moving towards the trees and towards the path the boy said the _Ghost _had been seen.

"Do you know the ghost?" the boy called.

Pausing, I smiled over my shoulder. "He wasn't always a ghost." With that, I adjusted my backpack and started my hike into the forest. I had a couple days to look for Leo, and I wasn't going to waste them. This was the best lead I had so far.

_My only worry was getting lost. Though I'm sure if I was I could just climb a tree and look for the nearest village. Arinna had taught me quite a couple things in those training sessions we had. _

_Turns out Arinna actually gets lost a lot. Not too hard believe if you know her. Because of that though, Arinna made this sort of plan for whenever she is lost. She looks for certain indications, or land marks. _

_Like that big tree covered in vines I saw about a mile from the village. If I got lost, I'd just look for that tree and if I move towards it, I should eventually get back to the village. _

_So getting lost I can cross of the list of worries. Worry # 2 though won't be as easy to cross off. My second worry was to actually find Leo. _

_Leo was told to keep to the shadows and train. He has always done exactly as told and would never risk letting anyone see him. So actually being able to locate or track him is going to be tough. _

_However, Leonardo is still a Hamato. If he saw people getting pushed down or threatened, he would just sit by and do nothing. He would make a plan. _

_A Forest Ghost is oddly enough a perfect cover story. _

Moving down a slightly rough terrain, I pulled out my hatchet, focusing on any sign of movement. I was looking for a ninja in a forest._ Gee, that shouldn't be too difficult… right? _

Cutting a few large leaves out of my way, I smiled at the sight of the road path the boy had talked about. Those men who had attacked the village, yet disappeared, had come down this path. Perfect place to look for clues.

_Alright April, get you inspector hat on and start looking!_

First clue of the day, the gun one of the men dropped. Seeing how it hadn't been removed yet, I couldn't help but wonder… why hadn't this _ghost _gotten rid of it? They say he is one with the forest. So wouldn't someone like that be against littering?

Unless of course he still hasn't gotten around to removing it and is planning on doing it at some point.

Lifting my head, I looked at my surroundings. "…Hello?" I called. There was some sounds and a few bushes moved. _Don't assume anything April, it could be an animal. "_Is anyone here?" I called again, moving towards the bushes that had moved. Stepping into them, I ducked to avoid being hit, crouching a bit through the foliage. "Hello?!"

_I know I heard something. There had to be-_

**_Crack_**

I screamed when the floor suddenly seemed to give out from below me. "AH!" I tried to grab some hanging vines as I passed them, but they only snapped under my grasp. _Great going April. Arinna would be proud. _

_…I wonder if this has happened to her? _

_I have no doubt it has. _

Preparing for a painful landing, I gasped when something suddenly broke my fall, catching me. _A vine? Hope so. _

Groaning at the spinning sensation I felt in my brain, I shook my head. I was some how… levitating in the air, like something was holding me up. Lifting my head, I blinked a few times, hoping to clear my vision.

"It's a long way from the city to just _drop _in." a deep voice said, sounding a little amused.

Recognizing the voice, feeling that I might cry on the spot, my eye's widened. Lifting my head, I could see my savior… and friend.

Leonardo.

"…Leo." I whispered softly. "LEO!" I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him as tightly as possible. _It was so good to see him. _

"Hey April." He chuckled, patting my back. Pulling away, he made sure that I was okay before placing me back on my feet. Looking my over, he smiled. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Heh. Neither have you." I motioned to him. "Thanks for the catch."  
"Any time." He paused. "Uh…" looking awkward, not sure what else to say, he wringed his hands together. "Here, follow me. It is pretty cold here. I'll start a fire."

"Oh! Right." I agreed, shuffling after him. Pushing through a few vines and over a few pieces of stone, we came across a small clearing. I must have landed in some sort of cave. To my right there was a small stream. I think it lead back to the village, so I could take that route to get back.

_Hah. I shouldn't have been surprised that Leo would hide out in an underground cave. It was the closest things to the sewers after all. _

"Here." He motioned for me to sit down on a log as he moved to start the fire wood.

I couldn't help but watch him. _Yeah, I know. Creeper much? Can you blame me though? It has been almost 2 years since I've last seen him. He's changed a bit. Still the same mask, shell, and ninja gear… but I think he grew a little bit. Only a little._

Glancing at me, Leo smiled and placed some more wood on the fire.

"You came all the way down here to see me?" he said, brushing off his hands. He sounded like he found that hard to believe. _I would totally come all the way down here to find you Leo. _

_…We all would. _

_Especially Arinna. I swear, she would be pulling out trees and looking up and down mountains to find you. _

"Actually, I was already here on business." I said honestly. "Then the local legend started to sound familiar, so I decided to snoop around."

"What king of business?" Leo frowned.

"Ancient Artifacts." I smiled slyly. "Some tycoon with too much time on their hands has his heart set on a collection of four 3000 year old statues."

Leo smirked a bit. "Well, you always did run with a strange crowd, April."

"Yeah well…" I looked to the side, a nostalgic smile pulling at my lips. "Our strange crowd hasn't been the same without you." I glanced towards him.

Shocked, Leo's eyes widened. Hoping to some how shield his emotions and/or embarrassment, he looked towards the fire, stabbing it a few times with his stick.

Frowning, I leaned in a bit. It was time I get straight to the point. "Things aren't looking so good back home." I announced.

There was a pause before Leo shook his head. "Aw, how bad could it be?" he tried to smile. "…Donnie's probably got everything under control."

I gave him a long look. _It was about time he knew. _

_I told Leo how Donnie was feeling a little bored being cooped up at home all the time. Though he did spend a lot of his time locked away in his lab, I guess after a while doing the same thing over and over again got a little lonely. So Donnie got a job. _

_He was an IT Tech Support worker. _

_It was a great job for his type of... character. No one had too look at his face, and all he had to do was answer questions about computers. He loved computers and knew those things inside and out. So how bad could it be? _

_Haha….. Very bad. It was very bad. _

_I remember going over there once to watch this movie with Arinna, and while I was there I overheard Donnie trying to talk this guy who didn't even know the difference between a mouse and a key board. _

_It was funny to listen to, but I bet it got pretty annoying after a while. _

_Oh! There was this one time when Donnie had gone to the Bathroom and the phone started to ring. I was there with Arinna and neither of us thought for a moment it might be someone from Donnie's job asking questions. _

_The look on Arinna's face though when she answered and was suddenly shot with about a billion questions on why this person's computer wasn't working. _

_"Uh… Um…" Arinna stammered awkwardly, passing back and forth. "You're computer isn't working? Okay so um… what's the problem? Oh right, I'm suppose to tell you what is wrong." Arinna shrunk. "Okay well, what happened before it stopped working?" there was a pause. "There screen went blank, made a weird nose, and now wont turn on? Okay well then… it might be the hard drive. Yes, sir, I said 'might'." She looked to me, her eyes wide and pleading. _

_I chuckled, waving innocently at her. _

_"April!" she mouthed, not amused by my jokes. "Oh no Sir, I'm still here. I was just going over what might be wrong. What type of computer do you have? A… Main Frame computer?" she frowned, not sure what type of computer that was. Moving to Donnie's desk she typed in the name, eyes growing wide when she realized that a main Frame computer was one of those really old computers that took up almost the whole room. "You sure do have an old computer. I don't think they even make those things anymore." She flinched when the person suddenly started to yell. "Oh, sorry. I'm not saying having a MainFrame computer is bad or anything, I'm just amazed you would have something like that. I mean, a simple laptop sound so much better. You can even fit it in your bag- hey, are you part of the military or something. I hear they use MainFrame computers for a lot of stuff." She paused again. "Oh you are? That is pretty cool. You must get paid well." She nodded to herself, plopping down in Donnie's chair and spinning in a circle. "I thought governments usually use super computers though? Oh? Really? Yeah I guess I would help if you had a Main Frame. Makes it harder for people to hack into. Haha, yeah." Arinna chuckled. "…Well, I'll be honest with you sir. I am part of the… district, that focus on laptops and small hand held devices. Just give me a minute to get out the members that focus on main frame computers… and super computers." She turned her head, "DONNIE!" she screamed. "Get down here! I don't know what to tell a military man who has broken his old Main Frame computer!"_

_The funniest part of this whole conversation was that Arinna forgot to cover the phone before she yelled that. Meaning the man on the other end could hear everything she was yelling. _

_There was a rush of footsteps before Donnie came catapulting down the stairs. "Mom!" he yelled. "Don't pick up my phone while I am gone!"  
"I can't help it! I thought it was for the house phone." She whined. _

_"Who would possibly be calling us if April is here?!" he demanded.  
"…Casey."_

_Not looking very amused, Donnie took the phone. "Hello, this is Donnie you friendly IT Tech support here to help you 24 hours a day." Donnie paused. "…Yes. Yes Sir. Yes that was my Mother you were just talking to. I apologize. It is fine? Really? You found it amusing?" he gave Arinna a long look. Blushing, Arinna chuckled a bit and fled for the kitchen. _

_And that was basically what would normally happen with Donnie's job. I think having Arinna there made it a little more enjoyable for him. _

"But Donnie's a genius. Why would he take a job like that?" Leo questioned once I finished my story. He looked so confused to why brother would go through stuff like that. He actually looked a little upset that Donatello would have to put up with all those rude people all day.

"At least he's keeping busy." I shrugged.

"Well, if he's doing that, who is keeping an eye on Mikey?"

_Haha, that is a funny one. _

_"_Mike's got into the um… entertainment business."

_Yeah, he basically just glued a zipper onto his shell, put on a chessey Turtle head, and performed at parties. He called himself, Cowabunga Carol. _

_He actually looks pretty cute in the costume, and the kids really seem to love him. As well as injure him. But hey, he seems to be, sort of, okay with it. _

_And he isn't alone at least. Nicole, Arinna's child hood friend, even got Mikey a van to use. Apparently Nicole knows of the hardships in running an entertainment business for kids and is helping Mikey out. She is Mikey's sidekick, the little sparrow. She wears this bird outfit and everything. The kids love her, and oddly enough, don't beat her up as much as they do Mikey. He finds that very unfair. _

_I remember one time I went with them because they were working at one of my friend's parties. It was a party for their little 4 year old. _

_"That a way kids! Got for the soft underbelly of his shell!" Nicole cackled from the side lines. _

_"Nicole!" Mikey screamed as he was smacked and kicked onto the ground where he was ganged up on. "And I don't have a soft underbelly-AH!" he screamed as a kid kicked him in the gut. _

_Rolling my eyes at the scene, I handed Nicole some cake. "Oh! Thanks." She grinned. "Hey Cowabunga Carol, when you're done playing with the kids, I have some cake for you."  
"I…. hate… you… Nicole!" Mikey screamed. _

_With a laugh, Nicole grinned. "Love ya too buddy~!" Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a camera. "Say Cheese!" she took a picture just as a big kid dive bombed ontop of Mikey, knocking the wind out of him. _

"They're a big hit." I chuckled.

Keeping his eyes set on the fire, Leo frowned. "Alright… let's hear it. What's Raph doin'?"  
"No one really knows." I shrugged. "He just sleeps all day."  
"Well what does he do all night?" Leo narrowed his eyes.

_I wasn't sure honestly. I had a feeling it wasn't something good and was probably dangerous. It was Raph we were talking about after all. _

_But I wasn't too worried. I know Raphael is a big softie at heart, so I'm sure whatever he is doing, he is at least trying to do the right thing. _

_Though sometimes his judgment isn't the best, he still tries. _

_Besides, I think Arinna is starting to catch on to whatever he is doing. From what I can tell she is worried about him, but trusts him enough not to stop him. _

"I'm not sure. Besides his weird sleeping habits though, he is the same old Raph." I chuckled.

Nodding his head, Leo tossed the stick between his hands a few time. "…How is Master Splinter?"  
"He's fine. High cholesterol from all the cakes Mikey's been bringing back to him, but besides that, he's the same old Splinter. He's even found this whole new show to get into."

"A new one? He finished the other one?" Leo asked, shocked.

"Apparently it got cancelled. Arinna and him were horrified. But they seem to be over it with this new show." I laughed.

At the mention of Arinna, Leo slouched. "…How is she?" he asked quietly.

Knowing he meant his Mother, I shrugged. "She's got a few new hobbies. She even runs this Radio station Nicole and her made together."

"A Radio Station?" Leo sorted a bit.

"Yeah. We were all shocked when she told us, but she really seems to love it. She talks about you a lot. She doesn't say your name though, or what you are/do, so don't worry." I said quickly, seeing Leo's look.

"So, basically she is doing fine?"

"Basically isn't the word I would use, but she is pushing through, yeah. I've heard from Master Splinter that she has been having trouble sleeping."

A flicker of worry flashed across Leo's eyes. "Sleeping? Is she sick?"  
"Donnie says it is a case of insomnia. She just keeps waking up in the middle of the night." I paused. "She is always worrying about you."

Leo looked away.

I couldn't help it. I had to say my mind. Leo has been down here enough. His family needed him to come home! "Your training period ended a year ago Leo." I frowned. "And Splinter says you don't write anymore."

"Splinter sent me down here to become a better Leader." Leo suddenly grumbled, his attitude growing defensive. "I can't go back a failure. Besides, these people need me more than my brothers do."

_He's wrong. He is so wrong. _

"…If Master Splinter and Arinna were here-" I began, glaring Leo directly in the eyes. "They would asked you, what is your heart telling you?"

Narrowing his eyes, Leo stared at me for a few seconds before breaking eye contact. "…I… I don't know." He sighed. "I just know something is missing." He rose to his feet, throwing the stick he was messing with into the fire.

Seeing the lost and confused look in his eyes, I sighed. "Your brothers need you Leo. Arinna too. We all do." I pleaded with him. Lowering my gaze, I sighed. "They're lost without." When I looked up, I was shocked to see Leo was gone.

_He just did a Ninja vanish on me!_

_"_Leo!" I called, jumping to my feet. He was gone. And knowing him, he wouldn't let me find him again.

_So I guess… I just had to hope my words got through to him, and he would return home soon._

_Sorry Arinna. I couldn't completely convince Leo to come back. I'm not sure if he ever will. I'm really sorry. _

_I tried. _

_But it is up to Leo now. _

**_Wahoo! Chapter two! I really loved writing this chapter. It was fun adding Nicole and Arinna into this chapter! XD I hope you all enjoy it. _**


	3. I'm a Hunter, you're a Night Watcher

_**Alright guys, chapter 3! **_

_**Warning before hand. This chapter takes place a little bit before the movie starts. It is also LONG! At least 8000 words if you can believe it. I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written. 0.0  
**_

_**Which is awesome! **_

_**Warning, a lot of different stuff happens in this chapter. It all follows one path, but we learn a lot of different stuff all in this one chapter. I hope you all like it. **_

_**I apologize beforehand for any spelling and/or grammar errors! THANK YOU!**_

Sprinting over the rooftops, I lept up, landing on another roof and continuing my path. Ducking down fire escapes and through back alleyways, I paused and pressed my back against the wall.

It was cold and wet.

It had only just stopped raining_._

Keeping close to the shadows, I quietly moved down the alley. Crouching down behind a dumpster, I peeked out.

Though it was late, 4 men were ahead, talking within the light of a large van. Their shadows spread out across the wall behind them as they talked.

The four men stood in pairs, each standing across from each other. On both sides, one of the two men held brief cases.

If this didn't say _illegal drug deal, _I don't know what did. Plus, how did no one notice this? Sure they weren't exactly near the street, but wasn't someone awake up in the apartments above to see this going on?

It wasn't like these guys were being very sneaky about it either.

Whatever though, it doesn't matter. Right now, I just had to focus on what to do with these goons.

Seeing all of this brought back memories from when I was little. Though it isn't something I really would like to recollect, I definitely felt some dejavu from a scene like this. My Father one night was out towards the back of our apartment with a brief case similar to the one those men were carrying.

There was a slick black van and everything that night.

My Father gave these guys in black suit the briefcase while he got a whole bag of money. All 20 and 50's might I add.

Apparently what my Dad was doing paid real well, but was also very illegal. Illegal enough to get him arrested only a couple of months later.

My Father and me didn't exactly leave on good terms, and I never saw him since. I heard he was released from prison and was living here somewhere in New York still, but I'm not exactly thrilled to go visit him any time soon.

I'm sure he isn't out there looking for me either, so what is the point?

_ANYWAY! Depressing topics aside, I've got a job to do. _

_Hey there, my name is Arinna. Arinna Kentin Hamato. Though I would prefer if you left out the Kentin part. That was my old last name. Splinter gave me his instead, which I gladly accepted. _

_And no, he didn't give me his last name through marriage. Were just so close to being like family that he basically adopted me into it. _

_You probably already know this, don't you? Yeah, I repeat myself a lot. Sorry about that. _

_What am I doing right now? _

_Oh, nothing much. Just following some drug dealers and waiting till they pull out the goods before I bust them. _

_Normal stuff. At least for me anyway. Though, usually if I'm doing this, I would be with my sons. That doesn't appear to be happening any time soon though, so I am on my own. _

_I use to come up here to the streets of New York every night and catch bad guys with my boys. After my eldest Leonardo left though, the rest of my kids slowly stepped away from the Hero work. _

_Well, sort of. _

_My seconds oldest liked to go out and stop bad guys still. But he doesn't know that I know his little secret. _

"Do you have the goods?" I paused mid thought when one of drug dealers spoke.

"It depends, do you have the money?" the two on the other side inquired. There was a pause before the two men on the left lifted up their suit case, opening it up to reveal several rows of 50 to 100 dollar bills.

_Jeez. Who just carries that much cash around with them? That is crazy. _

Looking over the bills, smirking, the other two men nodded to each other. Lifting up their own case, they opened it up to reveal several bags of different assortments of drugs and substances that I wasn't even sure of what they did.

Seeing them though was enough to push me into action. Jumping up to the fire escape, I scaled it to the roofs. Moving towards the eastern edge, right above the criminals, I peeked over, watching their movements closely.

All four of them had small pistols sticking out of the belts, so I had to do this quick. Pulling out a few throwing stars, I placed them between my knuckles and bent my knees.

Popping my neck, I shrugged my shoulders. "Okay, here we go." I bounced on the back of my heels a few times, shaking my wrist. "Alright." When I was ready, I jumped up, and dove over the side of the roof. Flipping once, I narrowed my eyes, aiming for the roof of the car. With a second pivot, I landed feet first.

Bending the hood slightly, I rose to stand straight. The man stared at me with wide eyes, all of them jumping from the crash sound I made from landing on their van.

"The Hunter!" One screamed, reaching for his pistol.

"Who?" the other three screamed as he pulled it out and aimed at me.

_Oh, so at least one of these creeps had heard of me. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. _

Flicking my wrist, I shot one of my throwing stars at the man, knocking the gun out of his hand. With a cry of pain, he held his wrist, inspecting his palm for injuries. Oddly enough, there were none. Lucky for him.

"Why you-" Just as one of the other ones reached for his own gun, I leapt off the van, slamming my fist into his face. Stumbling back into the other guy, I ducked as the fourth one tried to hit me with his suitcase.

Ducking a few more times, I grabbed the end of his case, shoving back at it. The man, not expecting the sudden force, cried out when the suitcase smacked him in the chest. He stumbled, falling into a trashcan.

_I could totally just say I 'took out the trash' just now, but I'll hold myself back. _

Narrowing my eyes, I bent my back when one guy tried to get a crack at me with his fist. When his fist threw over my head, I grabbed his wrist and flipped him over my back, onto the hood of the car.

Then I thought I would end this quick, cartwheel backwards, used my palms as leverage, and shot myself into the air. Mid way back to the ground, I twirled and split kick the other two men.

Falling flat on their backs, I smiled to find I had hit them unconscious.

_Quick and easy. Perfect. _

Dusting off my hands, I moved around the van, opened the drivers seat door and turned off the headlights. _Those things were blinding me that whole fight! Jeez, who puts on their Brights for a secret meeting?_

_Drug dealers, apparently. _

Speaking of them, grabbing a rope from my bag, I moved back to them. Grabbing them one by one I tied them to each other and tied the end piece to the fire escape ladder.

I would send in a tip to the police later to come and get them. Maybe by then they will be awake.

Suddenly, the air seems to shift. As if someone else had just arrived to this little party. Careful to keep my hood up, and my mask placed securely on my face, I slowly turned my head over my shoulder.

Down the alley, a large bike suddenly rolled it, coming to a halt a few feet away. At the wheel was a man within metal armor. It covered him from head to toe, giving him that 'dark knight' sort of look.

"Well, looky what I found here." The man said, stepping off his bike to stare around the area. "You seem to be busy lately, _Hunter_."

This was bad. This was really bad. And not for the reason you think. This guy wasn't going to hurt me. He couldn't, even if he wanted to.

I knew all his moves. How his thought process went. I knew everything about him.

He was the Night Watcher. A vigilante that protected the city at night… just like I was doing.

But the big thing was… _He was also my son. Raphael Hamato. _

Turning to face him, I stood tall. I had to get out of here. I couldn't risk him finding out who I really was. I don't have the courage yet to tell any of my family what I've been doing lately. Even though my son is doing exactly the same thing.

_Do you know how weird that is? To be hiding your secret identity as a vigilante when you son is doing the exact same thing. And the worse part of all of it is that I know what my Son is doing, but he doesn't know what I am doing. _

Unsure of what to say, I stared at Raphael. He could probably recognize me from my voice anyway.

"Oh? The silent type, eh?" he strolled calmly towards me, looking around at my handy work. "You and I think alike when it comes to this scum." He began to small talk. "Though if it were me, I wouldn't go easy on them."

Keeping quiet, I used the fact that I was wearing a mask to look around with my eyes. Trying to pinpoint the best way to get out of here, I could only seem to see the fire escape I had tied those guys to. I could of course head that way, but I have no doubt that my son Raphael would follow me.

"Hey, listen up. I don't know wut your agenda is Hunter, but here is a warnin' for ya. I dunno why you're doin' this, but stay out of my way." Raphael's voice suddenly grew dark, seeping with a dark threat that if I don't do as he says, he might just pull his weapons out on me.

Not feeling very threatened, I shrugged a nod at him. By his body language, I could tell he didn't believe his message had gotten threw and stepped towards me.

Luckily, I was saved by the sound of sirens not too far away, and they were heading our way.

_The police were heading this way? They already knew about this that quickly? _

Panicked, I took my chance to sprint towards the fire escape when Raphael looked over his shoulder. Leaping up, I scaled the ladder before Raphael could look back to realize I was gone. When he did though, he cursed and ran back to his bike to make a quick escape before the cops got there.

_Saved by the cops and quick gossip! Wahoo!_

Watching Raphael speed out of the alley, I quickly got on the move to head as far away from the area as possible. Since I was close to the coast, I moved across town at a quick pace.

When I was sure that I was in the clear, I dropped down to the streets, took of my mask, stuffed it in my bag, and pulled down my hood.

_…Okay…_

_Confession time. _

_For the past couple years I have been going around as a nighttime vigilante named 'The Hunter'. I can't remember exactly when I started doing this, or what exactly brought me to doing this every night… but I am now. I guess mostly because Leo left and the crime in the city started to get worse. _

_When I first became, The Hunter, I wasn't very pleased with my job. I didn't even intend to become a vigilante. It just sort of happened. At some point the News gave me my name, though I was never full into my role. Then Leo left…. and I suddenly felt this urge to actually step up and take my place as The Hunter.  
_

_I couldn't just sit by and do nothing while criminals ran loose. So I got a new hoodie, a cool mask, and took to the streets. I only stay out here for a few hours so my family doesn't notice, but I still feel exhausted sometimes from all of this. _

_I wish sometimes that I could just tell my family what I've been doing too, but I know how they will be. Just using the stove gets them all panicked and worried over me. There is no way they would be okay with this. _

_Even though I am the adult here, my sons are very over protective of me. Smothering even. _

_So I do this in secret. It isn't right, I know. I'm lying to my family and I feel awful about it every time I go out…_

_But I just can't stop. I promised myself to protect anyone in need, and I can't do that when I'm stuck in the sewers surrounded by my over protective body guards. _

_…Is that selfish?_

Unsure of myself, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and strolled down the street. When I reached the end of it, I turned towards the nearest subway station.

_Believe it or not, this wasn't the only time I had run into my sons as, The Hunter. When the boys were a team, before my oldest son Leonardo left, I had run into them a few times. I never revealed my identity to them, but I sadly never came them reason to believe I was their comrade either. _

_The Hunter was someone who never spoke, so I kept it that way. I'm sure if the boys heard my voice they would recognize me instantly. So I stayed as quiet as I could with them. _

_Plus, I didn't stay with them too long. If I ran into them, I would finish my job, then book it out of there, giving them no time to figure out if the Hunter was actually their comrade. _

_I mainly did this because I was afraid of what they might think. What if they got mad? I'm sure they would. _

With a heavy sigh, I moved into the subway station. Since it was late, there was no one down here, making it easy to slip onto the tracks and down the tunnel. Before the next subway train could get close, I turned into another tunnel leading into the sewers.

It didn't take me long to get home from there.

On the way, I took of my jacket and mask and stuffed them into my bag. It would be really awkward to enter the lair with those still on. What if the boys were still away?

That would not help me keep my secret… at all.

Jumping down an air shack, I landed right in front of our lair's front door. Pulling on the third pipe I saw, I smiled when the door opened. Looking left and right, I quickly snuck in and threw my bag into the closet.

_Now I just have to sneak into my room without being spotted. _

Putting all my training into action, I carefully slinked down the hall. I almost cursed when I saw Donnie and Mikey asleep in the living room. I forgot they had been sleeping there a lot lately.

It worried me honestly. Neither of them seemed to want to sleep in their own rooms anymore. This was the 15th day in a row they had fallen asleep watching TV.

Moving towards them, feeling my motherly instincts kick in, I began to tidy up. Carefully grabbing a few empty chip bags and pop cans, I threw them into the trash. Once the area was relatively clean, I grabbed two blankets and threw them over my sons.

"Good-night Michelangelo." I whispered, tugging the blanket around his shoulder and giving him a kiss on the forehead. He grumbled something, smiling in his sleep.

"Pizzaaa~." He slurred.

Chuckling, I moved to Donatello. "Good-Night Donatello." I whispered, tucking him in. Reaching up, I took off his large goggles he left on his head and placed them on the coffee table. Whipping a grease smudge off his face, I kissed him on the forehead.

Turning over a bit, Donnie snored. _They were both so cute. _

With a smile, I turned off the TV and snuck quietly out of the room so I didn't disturb them. Once out of their sight, I quickened my pace down the hall.

I had almost made it to my room, when the Dojo light suddenly turned on. Freezing, I looked to the Dojo doors. Was it Splinter?

Listening for his footsteps, I frowned when I head the large padding of feet. Splinter usually walked much quieter then those foot steps. Realizing who it might be, I stepped towards the Dojo and peeked in.

Yup, just as I thought. It was Raphael. He had just returned home from his long night of being the Night Watcher.

He didn't have any of the Night Watcher gear on him, so he must store it somewhere else. Probably nowhere within the lair, just to be safe.

_…Maybe I should do the same with my own stuff?_

Stretching, Raphael yawned. He turned his neck a few times, popping it, before scratching the back of his neck. He looked so tired.

Leaning in a bit more, I flinched when the floor creaked under my weight. Snapping his attention towards the sound, Raphael narrowed his eyes. "Who's there?" he growled.

Knowing I couldn't get out of this, I thought I'd pretend I only just got there.

"Raphael?" I peeked my head into the Dojo. Realizing it was me, Raph's eyes widened and his shoulder's relaxed.

"Oh… Mom." He said lamely, unsure of what to say.

"You know it i right?" I inquired

"…Yeah." He grumbled, moving to the punching bag as if he had just been training. "I just wanted tah get some trainin' in."

_We all know that is a lie, don't we little audience in my brain? Yeah, we do. _

"Oh, I see." I smiled nonetheless. Watching my son for a few minutes, I moved to sit in my normal mediation spot. Raphael said nothing as I sat down, letting the sounds of him hitting the punching bag fill in for the silence.

Punching the bag a bit more, I could feel Raphael's eyes constantly glancing in my direction. I pretended not to notice though and kept my eyes close, as if in Meditation.

"…What are ya doin' up this early Mom?" he finally asked.

I let a few seconds pass before answering. "I couldn't sleep." That answer was sort of true. I have had trouble sleeping lately.

Nodding, Raphael jumped up and kicked the bag before going right back to sucker punching it. Opening my eyes to stare at him, I smiled.

"What are you doing up?"

"Trainin'." He said quickly.

"Do you do this every night?" I wasn't sure why I was asking this. I already knew the answer, but I still wanted to see how he would reply. I wanted to see if he would tell me the truth on his own.

Huffing a few times, Raphael glanced at me. "Yeah. Sort of."

It was sad how I knew that wasn't a lie. Raphael did just tell me the truth right now.

"I can't sleep anyway. I get bad dreams."  
"Bad dreams?" I lifted my head. Now that was something I didn't know. "What sort of bad dreams?"  
"Nothin'." Raphael shook his head. "They are stupid."

"Bad dreams are not stupid Raphael." I frowned. "We all get them."

"Yeah well…" he didn't finish.

The room was quiet for a few minutes.

"…Wanna talk about it?" I inquired, tilting my head at him.

"About what?" he punched the bag violently.

"Your dreams?"

"No." Raphael growled, punching his punching bag a few more times, making the chains that hold the sand bag up shake.

With a small sigh, I looked to the ceiling. _I use to get along with Raphael so much better before Leo left. Before, Raphael had no problem talking to me. Sure some times it took a little while to get him to open up, but basically he told me however he was feeling. Now though… he never wants to talk. He never wants to talk to me about anything. We barely see each other anymore. _

"Listen Raphael…" I hesitated, unsure if I should bring up my next topic. "I know it's been tough since… since Leonardo left."

"Tough? Tough?" Raphael growled angrily, grabbing the punching bag, holding it still. "Tough that Leo _abandoned _us?" he didn't look at me.

"Raphael-"

"Don't '_Raphael_' me. You know it is true!" he whipped around and pointed a finger at me. "Ever since Leo left…!" He paused, taking a few calming breaths. He wanted to yell, but something held him back. "…I don't even know." He grumbled, he anger deflating a bit as he looked to his feet. "Don joined that stupid… tech support thing. Mikey is some clown, and I…I…"

"Just sleep all day." I finished for him

"…Yeah." He turned his head.

Biting my bottom lip, I smiled weakly at him. "…But at night you…" I trailed off to let him answer. If he wanted to tell me, he could. I wouldn't get mad at him or tell him he couldn't. Cause I was doing the same thing. It was only fair.

_…I should tell him. He would understand. I'm sure he would. _

"Hang out with Casey." Raphael answered quickly.

"And… fight bad guys?" I gave him a sly smile. Raphael's whole body froze, his eyes growing wide.

"How did ya-?"

"The Night Watcher is a man with three fingers on both hands and rides a motorcycle… that looks exactly like _your _motorcycle. Raphael, Hon, I'm not dumb." She chuckled. _Though I feel some people, like Nicole, would disagree. The jerks. _

"I…" his anger seemed to leave him as he bent down onto his knees in front of me. It was more out of habit than anything, but Raphael seemed relieved that he didn't have to look at my eyes as he struggled to explain his action. "I… I mean… Is it really that obvious?" he kept his head down.

_Pretty much. _

I chuckled a bit, patting my son on the head. "I'm surprised none of the others, or even April, have caught on." I smiled. "Granted, reporters can't seem to get a good shot of you, so that helps hide who you are a bit. But I'm sure if your brothers got up close they would be able to tell."

"…The streets just keep get'n worse and worse. Someone had tah do someth'n." he said slowly.

"I know Raphael." I nodded honestly. "I really do. I can see you are trying hard to protect the city. Though… I do not agree with the methods you use, I am still proud of the good you are doing." I reached out, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Surprised, Raphael looked up at me.

_Raphael would never do something like this unless he honestly thought it was the right thing to do. I agree with him. I don't want to just sit here and do nothing all day. I want to help people. I know he does too. _

"So you're not… mad?" his voice was barely above a whisper. His eyes were so wide with disbelief, as if he couldn't believe I was actually okay with what he was doing.

"Why would I be? Raphael, you've been doing a great thing. Granted, it is dangerous. I'm more worried than I am angry." I sighed. "You risk yourself of harm and in some ways… your family."

"But I-"

"I know you are strong Raphael. That doesn't stop me from worrying though." I lifted a hand up to grab a hold of Raphael's mask and re-adjust it. "I'm sure your brothers are also worried about where you go at night as well."

Raphael frowned, looking towards his feet. "They don't need to know about this." He mumbled.  
"Why is that?"

"They… they wouldn't understand."

I lowered my gaze to my knees. _It was sort of funny how Raphael and my own worries were so similar. _

"You might be right about that. I'm sure if I wasn't doing the same, I might not be able to understand either." I sighed.

Confused, Raphael frowned at me. "Doing the same?" he questioned.

I flinched. "I…"_Come on Arinna! Be a man- uh, woman! He's your son and going through the same things you are. He can handle it. _

Grinning sheepishly, I laughed. "Uh… you might find this hard to believe, but I ran into you just an hour ago."

Raphael blinked, his face showing no realization or understandement to what I was talking about.

"…I figured out you were the Night Watcher because I've run into the Night Watcher a few times before. I ran into him today as well."

Looking lost, Raphael rubbed his chin, trying to remember any time he saw me tonight. I could see the gears in his brain slowly turning, running over every face he saw tonight.

"I don't-"

"It was in an alley." I fiddled my thumbs together, twirling them around one another. The more I talked, the more confused Raphael seemed to get.

"…Which alley?" he asked.

"I don't really remember the name, but it was down by the pier." I cleared my throat. Raphael looked away to think again. He frowned, looking at me.

"Were ya hidin'?"  
"Nope." I shook my head. "You clearly saw me. You even said some things to me. You came zooming in on your bike all cool like, you questioned me, then we both booked it out of there because the cops were coming."

The room went quiet and Raphael's gaze locked with mine. Unable to look away, I stared deep into Raphael's piercing gaze. _He totally had a Splinter look going on! I guess that happens when your raised by Splinter himself. _

Raphael began to shake his head. "That can't be. The only other person there was-" he cut himself off, his eyes doubling in size as he realized what I was talking about. "WHAT?!" he yelled, leaping to his feet. "You're…You're…!"

I flinched, laughing nervously. "Surprise!" I waved my hands around.

"What?! You're…. You're… The Hunter?! No way!" he began to pace.

"Shhh! I'm not going around blurting out who you are to everybody!" I ordered in a quiet voice, glancing towards the door.

Realizing what I meant, Raphael lowered his voice. "This whole time-?"

"Yes." I nodded.  
"For how long?"  
"A couple years before Leo left." I answered honestly.

"And ya never told us?"

"To be fair, I was worried none of you would understand." I jumped to my feet. "And, you are doing the exact same thing as me. You probably would have never told us if I hadn't just now told you I knew."

Raphael flinched, going quiet.

We both stared at each other for a long time, neither of us knowing what to say.

"You're not pullin' my leg?" he finally asked.  
"Why would I lie about this?" I questioned. "I can show you my costume if you want proof."

"No, it's fine." He waved it off. "It actually makes a little sense if I think about it." He must have been thinking about the several times his brothers and him ran into the Hunter. How the Hunter would help then run off before they could really figure out what his goal was.

Looking back, the Hunter was the exact same size and body type his Mom was. Their fighting style was even the same. He just never got to see it long enough to fully figure it out for himself.

"So…" I waved my hands around. "Are you mad?"

Looking at me, Raphael shrugged. "Uh… not really." He said honestly. "Ya just caught me off guard is all."

"Oh." I nodded, relief spreading throughout my body. "That's good."

There was a long pause before we started to laugh. I wasn't even sure myself on what we were laughing about. We just started to laugh.

Maybe it was the whole idea that we were both so afraid to tell the other what we were doing, when in truth, we were both doing the same thing. Or maybe it was just the idea of both of us dressing up in weird costumes, like super heroes, and gallivanting off into the city at night?  
"We're like Batman!" I cackled.

"We live underground. In a Bat Cave. Mikey is goin' to go crazy." Raphael laughed.

"We are the night!" I almost fell to the floor laughing. "You even got a Bat Bike."  
"Turtle bike." He corrected with a snicker.

We actually fell to the ground with that last comment, laughing our heads off. It was nice to laugh like this. When was the last time we had shared such a heavy laugh?

…Maybe that is why we were laughing. We've been holding it in too long that we just can't hold back any longer?

"Hahhahah H-Hey…" I reached over to grab his arm.  
"What?" he chuckled, clutching his stomach.  
"You gotta show me your outfit sometime." I turned to him with a bright smile.  
"What?" he rolled on his stomach, small chuckles escaping from time to time. "Why?"  
"Cause I never get to see you with it on up close. It is usually always dark and at a distance. I want to see what it looks like up close." I answered.

"I dunno Mom."

"I'll show you my outfit." I beamed.

"I've already seen it."

"That isn't fair." I pouted.

Raphael laughed. I joined him, until our laughs slowly died down to soft chuckles.

"Thanks for understandin' Mom." Raphael glanced at me.

I smiled back at him. "Thank you for understanding to."  
"So-" he paused to sit up. "What do we do now?"

"…Uh…" I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we just keep going as we always have."  
"We just keep goin'?" he frowned.

"I don't know." I sighed. "We could always tell the others-"

"No."

"Okay, that is out of the question. So I guess we just keep going, except this time we both now each other's secret." _That didn't really sound like we improved at all. Well, it was definitely better, but we still don't seem any closer than telling the rest of our family. So basically, we were exactly where we were before. _

_"_Though who knows what will happen when Leonardo returns." I rubbed my chin. At the mention of his older brother, Raphael frowned.

Glancing at him, I realized I touched a touchy subject. _I shouldn't be surprised. But still… _"Raphael." I paused. "Can you promise me something?"

"Hmm?" he blinked at me.

"…Please, promise me that when Leonardo returns you will at least… try, to get along with him again." I placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him my best pleading look. _I knew when Leonardo returned that nothing would go back to normal instantly, but if we tried, then maybe we had a chance to going back. _

"If he comes back." Raph scoffed.

"He will." I grabbed his hand. "He is lost right now. Unsure of himself and his actions. As the oldest, there are many responsibilities placed upon his shoulder from Splinter."

"That doesn't give him dah right to just run off without saying anything. Or tah stop writing." Raphael grumbled.

"…True. But try to look at things from his perspective Raphael. You also often run off by yourself without saying anything. And that was before you became the Night Watcher." I pointed out.

"Well…" he trailed off with a huff. "That doesn't mean I don't eventually let you guys know where I am. I at least stay in the city. He's off who knows where. And he stopped writin'!"

"…Yeah." I sighed. "Think about it though Raphael. You both have been in the same situation. Everyone needs time to think things over, and understand just what is it that they need to do. Leonardo is simply… taking longer then you usually would."

"He stopped writin'!" Raph barked, throwing his hands up in the air. "He doesn't say anythin', he's abandoned us. This whole family is…. It's…" he gritted his teeth.

"Falling apart." I finished. Raphael froze snapping his attention back at me. Looking guilty, Raphael lowered his head.

"…Sorry." He mumbled.

With a small smile I pulled my second oldest into a hug. Though Raphael was never an emotional or huggy person, he never seemed to mind my hugs. It was touching.

Slowly reaching up, he gripped my sleeves, hiding his face in my shoulder.

"…Is what I'm doin'… right?" he asked softly.

"What does your heart tell you, Raphael?" I inquired.  
"I dunno." He grumbled.

I knew Raphael hated all of this. That everything was falling apart because Leo was gone. He hated the idea that the team couldn't work together without the 'fearless' leader.

Yet at the same time, I think Raphael missed him. He too missed Leonardo, even if he was too proud to admit it.

Reaching up, I caressed the back of his head comfortingly. _I wonder if he is tired? Tired of all of this fighting? Of all the hiding. Sure, we've always hid from the surface, but we've never had to hide who we are from our family. _

"As long as you do what you believe is right Raphael, you can do no wrong." I assured him. Pulling away, I lifted his chin so that he would look at me.

Slowly smiling, Raphael nodded. "Thanks Mom." He paused "Uh hey… you wont tell Masta Splinter or the guys about um…. The whole Night Watcher thing, right?" Raphael asked, his voice sounding a bit nervous.

"My lips are sealed till you are ready." She smiled at him. "Though I hope you will do the same for me."

"No problem Mom. I got your back." He smirked at me.

I laughed. "Thanks sweet heart." I winked at him. "So we both agree not to reveal the others secret till they are ready….Under one condition."

Raph frowned. "Condition?"

"I want to see you in your Night Watcher outfit."  
"Mom." He groaned.

"Oh come on. Just let me see it. Please?" I gave him a pleading look. "Please. Please. Please. I'll make you breakfast? I'll make you 5 omelets… with cheese?"

His frown never faltering, he looked away.

"How about 10 omelets? 15? I don't know if I have enough eggs for 15, but I can figure it out." I nudged him a bit. "How about some bacon too? You can have all the bacon." I paused. "We should make a meme like that. You can have all the bacon!" I laughed.

"…" Raphael snorted, turning his head a bit more so I couldn't see that little smirk pulling at his lips.  
"Ah! I see that." I moved around him to see his face. Turning, he struggled to keep my sight away from his face. "Come on. The bacon Raphael, think of the bacon. You can have orange juice too! I can make it straight from actual oranges. Oh wait, we don't have oranges." I frowned. "Then I can make you apple juice, we have apples. Or Banana juice." I paused. "Banana juice? Is that even a thing? We should figure that out."

"Okay, okay Mom." Raphael couldn't contain his snickers any longer and placed a hand on your shoulder. "Ya can see my costume. Just… just stop talkin'!" he cackled.

Huffing a bit, I smiled regardless. _Victory for me!_

Not wanting to risk the chance of Splinter or his brothers seeing him, we both snuck out of the lair again for the night. Moving to the surface, Raphael pulled out the outfit he kept safely hidden within a pipe system. The pipe didn't seem to be in use anymore, yet was big enough to hold his gear. His bike was even parked near here. Since there was a near by rail track, he must have taken that route to get his bike down here.

_Smart. Very smart. _

"Mind if I put my stuff in here as well?" I asked.

"Why? Where do you usually put your stuff?" he questioned.  
"In the closet."

"The main closet? The closet all of us look through every day?" he asked, bewildered. "I'm starting to think you just want to be caught."

"I don't." I folded my arms. "I just had no where else to put it. Besides, you guys don't normally go through my stuff without permission, so I thought I was fine."

My son shrugged at my answer, nodding his head in agreement. "True. You'd kill us if we took your stuff."

"I would not."

"Would to." He moved behind a dumpster to get dressed. Waiting patiently for him, I hummed to myself.

_This night was turning out pretty awesome. I was able to get a little bit of guilt off my chest and tell my secret. I was even able to come to terms with it and let Raphael know he could trust me with his own secret. I still felt bad for not telling Master Splinter. _

_I wasn't lying to him, but I wasn't being honest with him either. Though I know there have been plenty of times he hasn't been honest with me either, I still feel bad about doing all of this behind his back. _

"Mom." I heard Raphael clear his throat. Realizing I had zoned out, I lifted my head to find my Son standing before me in his Night Watcher outfit.

"…Awwww."

Raphael shuffled his feet, his lips pulled back firmly, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

"You look soooo cute." I cooed at the sight of him.

Being called 'cute' didn't seem to please my son much.

"I'm not cute." He hissed.

"You're adorable. How did you make this? Did you sew? Ask April to make it?" I circled him to get a full look. "You didn't tell me you could sew. Did you knit?"

"No." he flushed. "I don't sew or knit. And I… I got this stuff from a friend." Raphael trailed off.

Something in the tone of his voice made me frown. He sounded so depressed all of the sudden. "…Casey?" I doubted Casey would have such equipment, but who else could it have been?

"No. Someone else." Raphael shrugged it off. Something in Raphael's eyes made me worried. There was pain, and regret in them.

He was keeping something from me. Something about how he came into possession of this outfit.

"You can tell me Raphael." I said softly. Slowly looking to me, Raphael frowned. He looked like he honestly wanted to tell me, but something was holding him back. The regret kept pooling into his eyes like a stream, flowing straight into his soul.

_What could it be? He didn't kill anyone to get that suit, right? Oh Raph, please tell me that isn't what you did. _

With a defeated sigh, Raphael moved to lean against the wall. "A week before Leo left, I met this old man. He was getting beaten up."

I nodded as Raphael continued his story.

_He told me about an old man who had gotten beaten up by gangs and he went to help. The Old Man wasn't afraid of him though. He actually welcomed Raphael inside and talked with him. He told Raphael a story of how when he was younger he was the neighborhoods crime fighter. _

_On the day Leo was set to leave however, the man had gotten shot. Raphael had only been a block away and heard the gunfire. When he got there though, it was too late. The men had fled, and the old man was on the verge of death. Raphael had stayed there with the man, who had asked him to take his old gear. The Night Watcher gear. _

_He asked that Raphael take it and put some good use to it. When Raphael disagreed, the men began to plea, begging that he take it so that when his family came to take his belongings, they wouldn't learn of his secret past. _

_Unable to say no, Raphael took the gear. When he returned home though, he was told Leonardo had already left. _

"…So that's how." I rubbed my chin in thought. "That's also why… you didn't show when Leo left." _Oh Raphael. If I had known… if any of us had known the truth, none of us would have gotten mad that you weren't there. Splinter wouldn't have scolded you that night. _

_…What was it like? Did we hurt you Raphael? You had already gone through seeing a friend die, missing your brothers departure… only to have your family yell at you… all in the same night. _

Raphael nodded, gritting his teeth. "I wanted to be there when he left but… the old man needed me. And I let him down!" Raphael slammed his fist into the wall in anger.

"…Oh Raphie." I sniffled. Rushing forward, I wrapped my arms around him. "I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."

Confused, unsure on whether to lash out or break down, Raphael slumped against the wall. "…Why are ya apologizin'?" he mumbled into my shoulder.

"We yelled at you. We yelled at you when you had just lost someone. I'm so sorry… I-If I had known."

"Mom… Mom don't." he said, placing a hand on my shoulder, pulling back enough so that he could see me. "You don't got nothin' to apologize for."

"Yes I do. You've been going through all of this alone and I haven't done anything for you." _Great, I'm going to start crying here in a second. _

"Mom, no. It is my fault. I should have been stronger. I should have-"

_I was not going to let him take the fall for this. Raphael did absolutely nothing wrong!_

"Don't you blame yourself." I said sternly, placing both hands on his shoulders. "Don't you dare think this is your fault Raphael, because it isn't. You did everything you could that night. No one can ask anymore of you."  
"…I could have saved him Mom. If I was just… faster-"

"A hero… can't save everyone." I cupped his face in my hands. "…Not everyone can be saved Raphael."

He blinked at me widely, his eyes looking a bit moist. "I could have saved him though… if I stayed."

"You don't know that Raphael. No one knows what could have happened if you had stayed just a few minutes longer. Maybe you would have been the one to get shot that night instead, no one knows."

Nodding his head, Raphael looked at his feet. "…I guess..." He looked up at me. "Thanks Mom."

"Anytime dear." I kissed his forehead.

We both paused when the radio on Raphael's bike began to beep, notifying that there was trouble.

"…I gotta take that." Raphael announced.

"You just got home though." I blinked, bewildered.

"I'm fully awake though. I couldn't get to sleep even if you gave me 10 sleeping pills. Besides, I'm already in the outfit." He smirked.

I opened my mouth to rebuttal, but couldn't seem to think of any reason for him not to go. With a sigh, I shook my head. "Fine. But Raphael…"

"Hmm?"

"Can… listen, I know you're gonna go out and stop crime regardless if I say 'yes or no' to this whole Night Watcher thing." I said. Raphael gave me a weird look, but motioned for me to continue. "But please, just to calm my nerves, can you call me or text every few hours?"

"Mom." Raphael sighed.

"I know you can handle yourself." I rubbed the back of my head.

"I never had to call or text you before." Raph pointed out.

"Before you had your brothers watching your back." I reminded him. "You don't really have anyone doing that for you right now. So… please? Just a simple text saying you're okay, or 'hi' or something every three of four hours."

_I'm a worried Mother here. I practically stalked my son when he went out as the Night Watcher before because I was so worried. I don't really have to do that now though. As long as he texts me at least. _

With a small huff, Raphael looked at his feet to think. Slowly peeking back up at me, his agitated frown softened.

"…Alright."

"Thank you Raphael!" I grinned. Stepping forward, I looked Raphael up and down. Reaching out I brushed a bit of dust of his shoulder, sizing him up.

"Look at you. You're growing right before my eyes. Before long, you might just be taller than me." I mused.

He smirked at that. "I gotta go."

"Be careful." I said quickly.

"I will." He moved away, lifting himself onto his bike. Placing his helmet on, he looked back at me.

_Wait a minute… d-did he just…_

I snorted.

Hearing me, he folded his arms. "What?"

"You wear your mask under your helmet?" I snickered.

"…Yeah…" he grumbled, looking away. I laughed. If my son wasn't wearing that helmet, I'm sure I would see him blushing.

"Make sure you come home for breakfast this time." I waved to him. "I'm making you 10 omelets!"

"You don't have enough eggs." He started his engine.

"Then pick some up on the way home!" I called as he zoomed down the tunnel. Waving until I could no longer see him, I lowered my hand. My smile fell and I sighed.

_In ways, what Raphael was doing wasn't different then what his brothers and him did when they were still a team. It was different though. _

_Raphael, as hot tempered as he was, was violent. It was one of the main reason's the police didn't like the work that he did, regardless whether or not it was good. _

_Raphael was also alone. If he angered the wrong people… people with power, he could be in serious danger. There were times that her sons had all four of them together, and still struggled to make it out of a battle. With Raphael alone, with no help coming to for him… would he really be okay?_

_That look he gave me back in the training room though. This was something I knew Raphael had to do. Even if I told Splinter and the others what he was doing, Raphael would continue to go out and stop crime if he saw it. _

_Nothing would change that about him. _

_So the only thing I could really do, was have faith in my son… right? _

_I could always follow him too. Or join him. _

_…What if we teamed up?_

_Mother and Son, fighting crime. _

_OH! I just got goose bumps! That would be so cool. I mean, I use to join the boys all the time when they were still a team. But I never went with just one son. _

_The Night Watcher and The Hunter, fighting crime. I could see the New York News headlines now. _

_…Nah. Don't get your hopes up Arinna. Raphael is a free spirit. He likes to go Solo. I'm sure he wouldn't want you tagging along. _

With that thought, I turned to head back to the Lair.

_BZZZZ_

I jumped when my phone suddenly vibrated. Rushing to pull it out, I flipped it open to see it was a text from Raph. Clicking to check it out, I laughed.

_Hey, just checkin in. Yeah. This is stupid. Whatever. Here is a pic._

Below the words Raph must have placed the phone on a timer to take a picture and put it against the wall because the picture was of him standing in front of a building, leaning all cool like against his bike.

_Raphael was such a goof._

**_Wahoo! We finally made it! I hope you all enjoyed this! I definitely enjoyed writing it :D_**

**_I hope you all enjoyed the long chapter. :D A lot of people in other stories with Arinna message me about how they wish there were more Arinna/Raph interactions. So I'm going to add a lot in this story to make up for it :D_**

**_Don't worry though, there will still be plenty of interaction with the other Turtles too XD_**


	4. Early mornings mean Tetris and Wendies

_It was late. _

_Or should I say early? It was around 3:30 A.M, so technically you could say it was early. That is beside the point though. _

_Do you all like playing Tetris? You know, that game where you stack different shaped cubes on top of one another like fitting several objects into a box. You have to make everything fit or everything starts going out of balance. _

_…Sort of like how my family is right now. We're missing a crucial piece of our giant puzzle, which is causing everything to become out of balance. Leaving only our emotions to stack up on top of each other till they finally collapse… or explode. I think that depends on the style of Tetris though. _

Leaning back against my pillow I stared blankly at my screen as I played Tetris. I had been doing this for over 2 hours now. I couldn't sleep, but I also didn't feel like rolling out of bed and doing something productive with my time. So I sat here in the dark, playing Tetris.

It probably isn't good for my eyes to be playing a game in the dark, but oh well. Finishing the level I was one, I lowered my hands to my lap and tilted my head up to my ceiling.

_I wonder, am I just going to do this with the rest of my life? Stay in the lair all day playing Tetris or watching TV? Sure I have a job but I only do that for two hours in the morning and two hours at night. Maybe I should extend them to give myself something more to do?_

_Donnie suggests I get another job, but what in the world would I even do? I didn't exactly finish High School or go to college. And there is no way I am going back to High School to finish my education. _

_Don't get me wrong though, education is important. Learning the history of our planet, a bit of math, English, science, yeah, all of that is really important. _

_You learn history so you don't make the same mistakes our ancestors made, you learn math so that you can handle money and some jobs involve mathematic skills. You learn English, if that is your native language, so you can learn how to speak and read. And then Science, you learn that to understand how everything came to be. How babies are born, or how our universe was formed. Cool stuff like that. _

_Yeah, all of that is important stuff. However, I feel like school gets to a certain point where most of the stuff they teach is irrelevant. Like Calculus. Unless you get a job that involves that high level of math, which most people don't, you never use it! EVER. _

_So I'm not going back for my senior year just to learn that. No thank you. I remember Nicole going through that and her telling me about it, and she agrees. She has never used it in her life. Sure she uses a bit of the math for when she is building things, but it never goes to that high of a level. _

_And I have yet to meet a person who has ever said, 'Oh yeah! Calculus! Love it! I use it everyday, or even once a year!" Yeah, no. _

**_Bzzz_**

My phone began to ring.

Glancing down at my phone, my eyes widened when the caller Idea appeared on the screen.

_April O'Neil_

Scrambling to pick it up, hoping she had good news, I thrust the phone towards my ear. "Ow!" I yelped when it slammed against my face.  
"**Arinna**?" April questioned on the other end. "**Are you alright**?"

"I'm fine." I mumbled, switching the phone to my other hear. "It is great to hear from you April!"

April chuckled a bit. "**It is good to hear from you as well. How have the guys and you been since I left?**"

"Uh…" I rubbed the back of my head. "Pretty much the same. Mikey got a few more bruises from work and Nicole got this new bread she wants you to try."

"**Haha, I'll have to do that when we get to port**."

"Are you still on the boat? It is pretty early, so when do you get in?" I glanced at the clock to see it was around 4 in the morning. _Since she was apparently bringing back a lot of statues, she had to use a boat to bring everything up from Central America. _

**"In at least an hour, towards sunrise. Casey is coming to meet me**."

"Casey? Getting up before dawn?" I snorted. "You sure he can handle that?"  
"**He better**." She sighed. "**This client we have is huge! We can't afford to get a bad reputation from him."**

"Yeah. I'm sure it will be fine though." I assured her. "Just put on a little charm and you'll nail it."

**"Hah. A little charm? We'll see about that. If I have Casey with me, it probably wont be charming at all."**

I laughed. It was really nice to talk to April again. "Though I can't argue with that, I'm sure Casey will at least attempt to try and act civilized. He knows how important this is to you."

"**Yeah. Oh hey, Arinna? I'm sorry, did I wake you up with this call? It isn't till I glanced at the clock that I realized it was so early."**

"Oh no, not at all. I was actually already up." I assured her, throwing my legs over the bed and letting them hang there.

_"_**…Insomnia again?" **She asked.

"Sort of." I sighed. "I'm kind of addicted to this new game I have."

**"Game?"**

"I just got Tetris on my Cell. I love it." I chuckled out a quick lie. _It was bad enough I had my family worrying over me; I didn't want April to as well. I just couldn't sleep. I could never sleep when the boys were out. I would spend hour staying up every night when Leo was still here, just waiting for the boys to come home. I just couldn't sleep unless I knew all my family was safe at home. _

_And with Leo always gone, and hundreds of miles away… I… I just can't sleep. _

**"I love Tetris!" **April laughed. "**Be careful though. That game can become addicting."**

"I know." I mused.

There was suddenly a large pause before April spoke again.

"**Arinna**." April's voice was soft. "**I… I found him while I was there. I found Leo**."

_I didn't know what to say. What could I say_? Lowering my hand to my side, I tightened my grip on my phone. "…You did?" I whispered.  
"**Yes. He… he said he isn't ready to come back**." April sighed.

I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly. Biting my lower lip, I stood up and stumbled to my closet. I felt cold suddenly. So very cold.

"…I see."

"**Arinna."**

"I know you tried." I was just saying what came to mind now. Honestly, I wasn't even listening anymore. I just wanted something to warm me up. Grabbing a bulky sweater from my closet I pulled it on, yanking it over my head. "Was he doing well?"

"**…Oh, uh… yeah. Yeah he was. He's a hero. There is this village near where he was. They called him the Ghost of the Forest. He saved them a few times from these bandits."**

"That's my boy. Always a Hero… he always is." I cleared my throat when it cracked a bit.

**"Arinna I'm so sorry. I don't know if he will ever come back. I mean… he…" **She sighed heavily. "**I told him about how you guys have been. How his brothers need him, but he wouldn't hear it. He insists that the people there need him more than you guys do."**  
I couldn't bare to reply instantly. The pain that welled in my chest was too great to put into words. "I…he will."

"**...Will he really?"**

"He will come back on day. I don't know when, maybe several years from now, but he will. This is his home, and everyone gets home sick eventually." Even though I said that, I kind of felt like it was just someway to help myself through this.

_Oh jeez…_

There was suddenly a churning feeling in the pits of my stomach. _I think I'm gonna throw up. _

"April-" I said in a rush. "I gotta go."

"**Oh. Okay. I'' see ya soon Arinna**-"

"See ya April!" With that I hung up the phone. Staring at my phone, I covered my mouth when the feeling suddenly grew worse. Rushing out of my room I bolted for the bathroom, slammed the door, and upchucked everything I held in my stomach into the toilet.

_Gross~_

When I was done I flushed, whipped my mouth, and washed my hands. _I hate throwing up. I'm not even sure why I did just now anyway. Maybe because… Maybe it was the thought of Leo never coming back? _

_I definitely felt light headed after April told me she found him and that he had no intention of coming home any time soon. The least he could do was… write that to us, couldn't he? _

_He could at least write us and tell us he wanted to stay a bit longer? That he felt he wasn't ready or that… I preferred it there than over here? I'm sure in the forest he didn't have to hide as much or worry about Foot Ninjas chasing after him, but still. _

Moving to the door, I grabbed the door handle.

"…" I couldn't seem to bring myself to turn it. With a heavy sigh I pressed my forehead against it. Staying there for a few minutes I turned around and pressed my back to the door. Sliding down till I hit the floor, I brought my knees close to my chest.

_I didn't want to think about it… but what if April was right? What if Leo never came back? _

_I want to say I know him well enough to say he wouldn't, but it has almost been 2 years since I've seen him. The Leonardo I knew would never abandon his family or leave them behind. He would do anything to protect them, even give his life. He was comforting, kind and compassionate. He gave his all in everything he did and loved his family. Even if he argued with them constantly, his family was everything to him. _

_…A person can change a lot in 2 years though. What if Central America had changed Leo? What if he had become less caring of his family or cold? _

_No, Leo could never become cold. He would always have a gentle heart, not matter what. I was positive of that. _

_But… what if his love for his family disappeared. What if we were no longer that important to him? What if since leaving the clan to go solo, he's come to love being alone more than being apart of a clan? _

With a groan of frustration and ran my fingers through my hair.

_I have to have faith in him. He's my son. I know he'll do what he think is right. _

_…Would I be willing to let him stay in Central America forever though?_

**_Bzz_**

Jumping when my phone vibrated, I glanced down at it. Expecting to see April again, I was surprised to see it was Raphael.

Opening it up, I blinked to find he had sent me a picture. Clicking the button, I cringed at the sight of the man hanging upside down from the light pole. _He must be still out as the Night Watcher. You know, when I asked him to send me texts every now and a then so I would know he was okay, I didn't mean that he had to send me pictures of the criminals he was beating up. _

_He's been doing this a lot lately, and all of them seem to end with the criminal hanging upside down on some pole. _

**_Why would you send me a picture like this?" _**I replied to his picture.

After a few minutes, Raphael replied.

**_I thought you'd like it. Braniack says I should try ta be 'creative' with my time. _**

I pinched the bridge of my nose. **_I don't think he meant like this Raphael. _**After a few seconds of thought, I quickly sent him a second text. **_Did you at least use a double loop for the knot?_**

**_Always do. _**

I shook my head, but couldn't help but smile. _Wait, I shouldn't be encouraging this, should I?_

**_"Are you coming home soon?" _**I asked him.

**_"Yeah. You want somethin' to eat_**_?_

Tilting my head at the text I got to my feet and moved out of the bathroom. Stretching my arms, I yawned and moved to the kitchen.

**_Have you been out all night?" _**

Looking into the living room, I was happy to see Mikey and Donnie weren't asleep in the living room. But from the light from Donnie's lab, they had both fallen asleep in there instead. I remember a few hours ago they had been working on Mikey's party van. They must have been working on it for so long that they fell asleep.

My phone buzzed, revealing another text from Raphael

**_Yeah, coming back now. Want something to eat?" _**he asked again.

Tapping my chin, I replied,** "_From where?" _**_Could I handle some food right now? All that throwing up did make me hungry, but maybe it wouldn't be wise to eat. I might be getting sick. _

**_'You like Wendy's, right?_**

J shrugged. _Yeah, I was up for a late night snack… or, dinner._ _What would you call this? Deakfast? Dinfast? It was between Breakfast and Dinner, so… Breaner? _

**_A nugget meal will be fine. Would you call between Dinner and Breakfast Breaner? Or would you call in Dinfast? _**

There was a short pause before Raph replied. "**_Nugget meal, got it. I dunno, both? Does it matter?_**_  
**"Yes" **_I chuckled.

**_Then I dunno Mom. You could call it Dinefast. _**

I groaned. "**_Oh Raph, now I have another name to choose from._**

A little bit later Raph returned, no longer in his Night Watcher costume, and joined me at the table

"Hey." He greeted, placing the drinks and food on the table.

Watching him, I eyed the food. He got this all pretty fast. _He must have gone through the Drive Thru. _

_…The Drive Thru? _

"Is it hard to go through a drive thru." I asked instantly, taking my drink into my hand.

Raph frowned at me. "Whadya mean?"

"Well, do you go through it with your Night Watcher helmet still on? Cause I know you couldn't with it off." I shrugged, placing a fry in my mouth

Raph shrugged, smirking a bit. "Secret."

"That's no fun." I pouted. "You shouldn't keep secrets when it comes to fast food."

"Fast food businesses always hold secrets."

"That isn't the point." I sneered at him. "This is a serious question. How do you manage to go through drive thru's?" I eyed him. _He probably puts on a big trench coat or something. _

Keeping eye contact with me, like some sort of western showdown, Raphael narrowed his eyes. I mimicked him, keeping my eyes narrowed and dangerous.

"…" He suddenly looked away. "I keep on my helmet, but put on a really big trench coat."

"I knew it!' I grinned, pointing at him.

He smirked at me, nudging me a bit. "What are ya doin' up so late Mom?" he glanced around. "We're ya out?"

"Nah." I shook my head. "I just couldn't sleep."

"Again?" he frowned, "This is the 4th night in ah row."

I shrugged. "Yeah."

He must have been eyeing the large bags under my eyes, because he was quiet after that. Sipping on my soda, I much quietly on my food.

"April is coming back today." I announced, deciding to start up some sort of conversation other than my sleeping habits.

"Ah." Raphael nodded his head in acknowledgement. "She find what ever she was lookin' for?"  
"Yeah. These four stone statues. They are really old." I nodded.

Raphael shrugged, not looking overly interested. "She went down to central America right? Where Leo was?" Raphael didn't look at me. I nodded my head.

"She said she was gonna go look for em' while she was down there. She find anythin'?" he glanced up at me, his expression unreadable.

Keeping my gaze down, I sighed. "She found something, but not what she was looking for." I said. _I couldn't bare to tell Raphael the full truth. She had found Leo, but she just hadn't found the Leo we were all hoping to find. The Leo that would want to come home the instant we asked. _

_I guess that was too much to hope for. _

Raphael didn't say anything but nodded his head. Leaning back into his chair he folded his arm. "Well-" he yawned, scarfing down the rest of his meal. "I think I'll hit the sack."  
Rising to my feet I gave him a quick hug. "Alright. Good-night sweetheart."

"Night Mom." He patted my back. Pulling away, I smiled at him. Before he could leave, I whipped a smudge off his face. He huffed a bit, trying to swat my hand away.

"Don't fuss." I frowned. "There is a smudge."

"Then I'll get it." He grumbled, looking to the aside, embarrassed. "I'm not 5 anymore."

"…" I lowered my hands. "No." I agreed. "I guess you're not." At my tone, Raphael looked at me, surprised.

_The boys were all growing up so fast. They were practically adults now. I wonder if all of them would start leaving home now? What if they didn't want to stay in New York and went off somewhere secluded like Leo did? I wouldn't blame them for wanting to leave, I mean, if I could never go to the surface like they did, I might do the same. _

_This was my home though. I've lived here almost all my life. It is all I've ever known. I couldn't just leave it. _

_If the boys asked me to move with them, I might go then, only if they were willing… but it would be hard. _

_"_Mom?" Raphael suddenly cut in between my thoughts when I went quiet. "Ya okay?"

"Oh. Yeah." I nodded quickly. Reaching up, I patted the top of his head. "I'm… just thinking about how tall your brothers and you are getting."

My son snickered. "I might be taller than ya soon enough."

"You _might." _I smirked back.

"There is ah good chance."

"A _Chance."_

Raphael frowned. "…I _will _be taller than ya." He said, sounding determined.

"Better drink some milk then." I laughed at his annoyed expression. When my giggles died down, I gave him a warm smile. "But who knows? You might be taller than me. I have no doubt you are still growing."

A little pleased with that he nodded. "I'm headin' tah bed."

"Okay." I waved to him as he flipped up to the second floor. When he was gone and in his room, I lowered my hand.

_…I wonder what Raphael would have said if I told him what April told me? He would probably say something like; I don't care if Leo never comes back! Good riddance! _

_I know he wouldn't mean that though. He misses his brother just as much as the rest of us. _

_…Please Leonardo. Please. Come home. _

_We need you back. I don't know… I don't know how much longer how family can keep this act of 'being okay' up. We're slowly crumbling apart. _

_We need you back. _

**_YAY! NEW CHAPTER! Okay everyone. Thank you so much for all the support you've given me already for this story. You are all so amazing I just... I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to you all. You are all so nice!_**

**_I also want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Blackhooded001 for drawing the cover for this story, and a few other stories of mine. If you like Blackhooded001's art you can also go to their DeviantArt Page! They have the same username there as well :D_**

**_Thank you again Blackhooded001! _**

**_(...I'm addicted to Tetris. It is a sad fact about me) _**


	5. Long live Bioshock!

_The world is filled with many types of people. Nice people, sad people, angry people, mean people. There are people who are complete jerks to strangers, yet sweet to friends. There are people who seem so nice and lovable, but have terrible driving skills. Some call this road rage. _

_My nephew has terrible driving skills, despite being a very sweet and funny kid. _

_His name is Michelangelo, but we all came him Mikey. His Mom and Dad are really the only ones who call him Michelangelo. And his brothers from time to time, but that is usually only his eldest brother Leo. _

_Leo isn't really around much anymore though. _

_Hey there. Nicole Cater is my name, a building things is my game. _

_…I also own a little Bakery, but I'm not very good at it. I prefer to put engineer and inventor on my job application. _

_Recently though, I've started a whole new job with my Nephew. Mikey isn't my blood nephew or anything, but I'm real close to him, so I think of him as my nephew. Plus, his Mom is my best friend. We grew up together. Some people actually think we are sisters. _

_SCHREECH!_

_GAH! And THAT, would be my crazy Nephew taking a super sharp turn! I swear, I don't know what convinced me to let him drive today! Maybe it was his big sad puppy dog face he always gives me? I swear, turtles can give you the most pitiful looks. They are really hard to say 'no' to. _

_…Oh yeah. Did I mention my nephew was a mutant Turtle? Yeah, he is. It is cool though. It isn't like he is scary or anything. He is more like one giant kitten. Seriously, he is like a kitten, with an attention span of a gnat! _

"Mikey!" I shrieked as he swerved the steering wheel for another sharp turn, almost causing the whole van to tip over. "Slow turns! Slow!"

"Haha! Sorry!" he cackled, stepping on the gas to accelerate out speed. Clinging to the passenger's seat, I yelped when Mikey too a wild turn, almost smacking and elderly Lady, who was going across the cross walk, right in the head with the side view mirror.

"Dude!" I screamed, looking over my shoulder, glad to see she was still okay and was still walking like nothing happened.

"What?!" Mikey gawked at me.

"You almost hit that old lady!"

"I did not!" he huffed.

"You did too!"

Speeding around the corner, the Party Bus Mikey used for his day job screeched to a dramatic halt at the nearest red light. The whole thing shifted slightly, before going quiet.

"You totally almost hit that old lady!" I screamed, yanking on my passenger side seat belt. Huffing a few times, still feeling my pulse racing, I glared at my adoptive nephew. He was such a crazy driver! If he wasn't my best friend's kid I would have punched him in the face for being so crazy!

"I did not!" Michelangelo Hamato argued, shaking his head. We scowled at each other, hitting our elbows against each other angrily.

"Your side mirrors were _that _close to hitting her head." I measured the distance using my fingers. "That close!"

Staring at the distance size I made, Mikey frowned. "…Was I really that close?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Oh." Mikey deflated. "Oh jeez." He looked a little ashamed. "Hope she was alright."

Glancing at him, I blinked. _Curse those big baby blues. _

"She was fine…I don't think she even noticed." I sighed. "But I'm telling you this for next time; you have to be more aware of your surroundings. Especially when you are driving."

"I know." Mikey sighed. "Donnie tells me all the time."

"And do you listen?"  
"Not really, no." Mikey shook his head.

"…" With a snort, both of us began to laugh. _Hahaha! I can't help it! No one really listens to Donnie. I mean, he is as cute as a button, but once he starts talking, it is like his words go in one ear and out the other. I think we would listen more if he didn't use such big words, but still! _

Throwing his head back, Mikey cackled wildly. "Ahahaha- ow! Ow!" he paused to hold his side. Pausing, I glanced at him.

'You okay?" I asked, worried when he hunched forward a bit to hold his side.

"Yeah. It is just my side. It is still soar from when that kid kicked me." He whined. Looking up, expecting to see some sort of sympathetic look from me, Mikey was shocked to see I was struggling to hold back my giggles.

_…Did I forget to mention that the kids at the parties we work at like to beat up my nephew? In the most hilarious ways possible?! If I haven't, I definitely should have! _

"…Pfft….. pff…. AHAHAHA! Dude! That kid hit you so hard!' I snorted, throwing myself back, causing the whole chair to shake. _The van was a little old. _

"Nicole!" Mikey whined.

"I-I can't help it!" I snickered. "He completely body slammed you!"

_It was, beautiful. That kid soared into the air like he was an eagle or something and completely took Mikey out. The two hit the ground so hard, and the only thing you heard was Mikey squeaking from the impact. When the kid finally rolled off of him, Mikey just layed there for a while. _

"Yeah I know. I can still feel it. Ouch." Mikey winced, running his fingers over his bruised side. "That wasn't funny Nicole, that really hurt." He whined.

"Hahah! S-Sorry!" I whipped my eyes. "But hey, the plus is that the lady gave us 20 dollars extra for how many times her son smacked you in the throat." I shrugged. _I would gotten involved if they it wasn't a Styrofoam sword. _

"Yeah." Mikey smiled, waving the 20 in the air. Snatching it from him, I smirked.

"Hey." Mikey tried to take it back.

"You know Donnie doesn't like you taking care of the money." I shook my fingers at him in a scolding way.

"I wont loss it." Mikey insisted, reaching over the seat to grab my wrist. Yanking my wrist back, I shook my head.

"Yeah, but you would spend it on something your family doesn't really need. Like another toaster or something."

"I like toasters."  
"I know you do." I chuckled.

Sitting back in his seat, Mikey sighed. Tapping his finger against his steering wheel impatiently, he stared ahead for the light to change green. "…I wonder how those kids got so violent." He grumbled.

"Cartoons. They warp your brain." I wiggled my fingers around my head. _Seriously, Tv really does affect how children react. I know it definitely changed how I treated things. _

"You watch cartoons with me all the time though." Mikey frowned.

"Yeah, that should say something." I gave him a serious look.

"…" We burst into another fit of laughter. Clutching my stomach, my giggles slowly died down. _Ahaha, oh this was a funny day. Sad it only lasts a few hours though. When the jobs are done, Mikey goes home and I go back to work at my Auto-shop/Bakery. The thing is though, while I have things to keep my busy, Mikey just sits at home all day. I know he watched TV, but he does that EVERY day. Sometimes he'll train and hang out with Donnie, but that is only if Donnie doesn't have work himself. _

_I know Arinna and him have had this sort of Movie marathon going on. It is like they are trying to watch every movie in existence or something. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually accomplished that. _

"Hey Aunt Nic?" Mikey mumbled, as he watched an elderly couple move across the cross walk.

"Hmm?" I hummed, watching the couple as well. _They were cute. Wouldn't that be nice? To get married to some nice guy and grow old with him? That would be pretty sweet. Too bad no guy is ever interested in me. However, all of them seem to be interested in Arinna for some reason! I would be jealous of her, if it wasn't for the fact that every guy that does crush on her is evil. Hah! Poor Arinna. _

"Ya ever feel like you were meant for more?" Mikey suddenly asked.  
Pausing, I glanced at him. "More?" I asked, confused at the sudden mood change.

"Yeah." Mikey sighed, lowering his gaze. "You ever feel like you are just meant to do more with your life? Cause see, every day it is the same thing! Wake up, birthday part gig, say Dude a lot, drive home, watch TV, train, rinse, repeat- Ugh!" he groaned just thinking about it.

Shocked, I leaned back, thinking about it. "Well… sort of." I shrugged. "I guess I don't feel it as much as you cause I do more than just that."

"Well yeah." Mikey turned towards me. "You actually get to build cool things. Like cars and stuff! And you got business deals or whatever, and you got a bakery you run. You even do that Radio stuff with Mom. You got all these things to do and every day is different!" he looked back at the road. "While I'm just… doing the same thing over and over waiting for..." he trailed off.

"For Leo?" I asked softly. Mikey sighed, nodding his head. _This was a touchy subject with the whole family. It was one thing that Leo left; it was another that he never came back. The family was fine was Leo was gone because we knew he was coming back. When the deadline came along for him to return though, and he didn't, well… things went down hill. Everything changed after that. Donnie secluded himself to his lab and his job, Raph got angrier and never came out during the day, Mikey got this crappy job and basically became a couch potato, and Arinna… Arinna stopped smiling as much. She became more secretive too. She stopped letting others know how she felt. She became so secluded with her emotions that is was rare to hear her laugh lately. It was hard to see her family go through this. I guess it shows just how much Leo made a difference to the family. _

_He was their leader after all. Their guide. With him gone, no one really knew what to do. It wasn't the same. _

_The only person who seemed unaffected by this was Splinter. But even that seemed like just an act. I would always see Splinter out and about when I came over to the lair. He was either watching his shows, drinking tea, talking with his sons, or just meditating. I almost never saw him now. He stayed in his room most of the time. _

_It must have been so hard for him to send Leo off like he did. I'm sure there was a good reason though. At least, I hope so. _

With a heavy sigh, I ran my hand through my hair. One of the main reasons I got this job with Mikey was to some how support them through this all. I wasn't exactly doing a good job at it though. Sure Mikey smiled a bit more with this job and got out of the house from time to time, but I could still sense that his mind would trail back to his older brother.

"…Hey." I nudged him a bit. "Things will get better. You're just at a point in your life right now where you've hit a wall."

"A wall?" Mikey frowned.  
"Yeah. When I was younger I hit one two. I had no idea what to do with my life." I sighed. "It happened after Arinna's brother... After your Uncle died." I leaned back into my chair. "Losing him was hard. Losing anyone close to you is hard. But you just have to push through.

"…How did you do it?" he looked up at me.

"Hmm." I rubbed my chin, thinking back to my teen years right before I became an adult. I was around 15 when Vincent died. Right around Mikey's age, a little younger. Vincent had been like a brother to me, so losing him was very hard. For the longest time I just mopped around. I guess it wasn't till I saw it was even harder for Arinna that I pulled my act together.

"…Well, I kind of forced myself." I answered. "I still had loved ones around me who wanted to help me, and I had your Mom. I realized she needed me to be strong, so I pushed everything aside and kept going. I focused on what I loved to do, and aimed for my goals." I smiled fondly. "I know that is what Vincent would have wanted me to do."

Smiling a bit, Mikey nodded. "Do you think I'll find a dream?"

"I'm sure you will." I reached over to pat his head. "Everyone hits a wall in their life. Sometimes, you hit several walls. It is what makes life one of the hardest things you have to do. You just have to learn how to climb over that wall."

"How do I do that?"  
"I dunno." I said honestly. "It is different for everyone. Maybe you just need to find something else to do with your time? Maybe join your Mom for her radio shows? No one will see you and you'll be able to talk to a lot of new people without getting beat up by their children."

Michelangelo laughed, nodding his head. "Yeah! Yeah, that sounds fun." He snickered. Pausing, he realized the light had changed to green and pressed on the gas. He seemed a little bit brighter after that, which I'm glad.

I wasn't much of a role model, but I find victory enough in him at least being able to smile.

Taking a few more turns till we were in a back street not visible from the Main roads, Mikey pressed a button close to the radio.

Above, the Cowabunga carol head, which is the most ridiculous looking thing to have on a Van, deflated and a secret garage door opened up from the wall. Turning around, Mikey slowly backed up into the garage and closed the door.

Taking off our seat belts, both of us crawled into the back, and removed the panel that revealed a secret exit out of the bottom of the van. Jumping down it, we removed the Manhole that was hidden below the van and leapt into the sewers.

_It is kind of sad when you get use to how bad the Sewers smell. _

"Race ya to the lair!' Mikey tossed me a Skateboard.

"Oh! You're on!" we both booked it down the tunnel, leaping onto our skateboards and shooting down the pipeline. _Okay, this had to be my favorite part of the day! I love skating through the sewers!_

"Wahoo!" I cheered as we shot up, landing on a staircase within the sewers and skimming down it.

"HAH!" Mikey laughed. "Why skate a half pipe when you can skate a sewer pipe?"

"If only they had half pipes down here too!"

"That would be killer!" Mikey cheered, doing a back flip on his board. _Show off. _

Moving through the Sewers quickly, Mikey and me used the walls to pick up speed. Towards the end of the tunnel we were going to, both of use moved up the walls, leaping into the air as we cut across a couple of train tracks. Below us, a Subway train suddenly moved by.

"Train! Train!' I yelled as we shot over it. With a giggle, Mikey reached down and touch the top of it, standing up straight seconds before me landed into another tunnel.

"Your Mother would kill me if she learned I let you do that." I groaned over my shoulder.

"Then don't tell her!" Mikey made a weird face at me.  
"I'm sure she does the same thing!" I wiggled my arms.

With a laugh, Mikey and me turned into another tunnel, leaping up the steps the city had placed in this area. "Surfs up bra!" Mikey grinned.  
"Dude! Did you really just say bra?" I snorted.  
"Don't judge!" he blushed in embarrassment.

"I'm so totally telling your Mom you said that!" I picked up a bit of speed.  
"Don't Aunt Nic! She'll laugh!" Mikey quickly caught up to me.  
"I know, that is the point." I reached over to poke his stomach. Hitting my hand away, Mikey pushed forward and leapt down to his skateboard. Laying flat on his board, I mimicked him when the tunnel began to get smaller.

Shooting down the small tunnel like a bullet, I trailed behind Mikey a bit, copying every movement he made so I wouldn't hit any poles of extra tubing sticking out.

Glancing over his shoulder at me, Mikey smiled. Looking ahead, he barely had time to scream before he realized we had reached the end of the tunnel. "Ah!" Mikey winced when he rammed into the air fan that was at the end.

_Who even puts an air fan down here? _

_…Oh hey… wait a minute-_

"AH! DUDE!" I screamed when I realized I was about to ram into both the Fan and Mikey. Smacking into him, we both hit the side of the wall hard, before falling backwards and down into the tunnel below.

"GOING DOWN!" we screamed, clinging to each other as we face planted into the ground. Bouncing up when we hit the ground, we both screamed, oddly enough landing on our feet.

_… Hah! Still alive!_

"…" We blinked a few times, looking around and down at ourselves, shocked to find we were not injured at all.

"Dude! Lucky!" we beamed. High fiving, we ran to the wall ahead of us. It seemed like a normal stonewall, right?

_Wrong!_

Reaching forward, Mikey grabbed the third pipe sticking out from the wall and pulled it. There was a small clicking noise before the wall in front of us opened, revealing the Hamato's secret lair. Lifting up our skateboards, the both of us jumped a bit before rushing inside.

"Here'sss Mikey!" Mikey leapt up, holding his arms out wide.

"And Nicole." I leapt over him like leap frog and landed on a chair.

_…Do you know how weird it is to hear an echo like this? Kind of off putting. _

There was a small pause, and then, luckily, Arinna stuck her head out from the kitchen. "Oh! Welcome home you two." She called with a wave.  
"Hey Mom!" Mikey waved back, tossing his skateboard to the side.

"Hey Arinna!" I called to her, doing the same. "What have you been up to all day?"

"Oh, just the normal stuff." She shrugged. "Cleaning, cooking, reading." She smiled.

_Boring, but whatever. _

"You got any treats for us?" I smiled, peeking over her shoulder and into the kitchen.

"Not at the moment." She nudged me with a sly smile. "Wait a few minutes though and you will."

"Sweet!" I pumped my fist. _I love Arinna's homemade treats. _

"Hey Mom, here's our money for the day." Mikey smiled, hanging her the wad of cash. Taking it, she looked it over and nodded.

"I'll be sure to give it to Donnie." She placed it in her pocket. _It must be nice having your own 'Donnie bank' system. _

"How was your day?" Arinna asked as she turned to move back into the cough.

"Terribl-"

"Awesome." I interrupted before Mikey could speak.

"That's because you just stood there eating cake!" Mikey whined.

"I did not." I huffed. "I spent around 20 minutes pushing a little girl on a swing."

"Yeah, while I took on the rest in a miniature battle." Mikey pointed to his bruised side so Arinna could see.

"Oh my." Arinna covered her mouth. "Does it hurt Honey?"

"Yeah." Mikey grumbled. "But I'll be okay."

Smiling, Arinna nodded. "I'll give you an extra cookie."  
"Yay!" Mikey, as if the bruise wasn't even hurting anymore, leapt into the air and onto the couch.

"Unfair." I gripped, rushing to the couch. Grabbing the back of it, I lifted myself up, and plopped onto the other side. Quickly jumping into action, I poked Mikey a couple times in the side while I made a break for the remote.

"Hey!' he giggled, trying to swat my hands away. "No fair!"

"Victory!' I cheered, holding up the remote and turning on the TV. Skimming through the channels, not feeling overly interested in anything they were showing, I paused when a went pass the New's channel. Going back to it, I leaned in a bit when they revealed a new story on the City vigilante, the Night Watcher.

"Ah!' Mikey giggled excitedly at the sight of it.

The police and News crew were just baffled at the low crime rates lately from the Night Watcher appearance the past year. Though not everyone is very pleased with the methods he seems to be using. Beating up the criminal before turning him into the police and causing property damage.

"Jeez, people are so picky." I snorted. "First they complain about the crime in the city, then when someone does something about it, they complain about it! I mean, this is just me here, but I would definitely prefer the bad guy behind bars with a few bruises here and there rather than him running lose and causing more trouble."

"Yeah." Mikey agreed with a nod. "This guy is a hero! Like… Like Batman!" he grinned.

I laughed. "Like Bat Man." I agreed.

"_More news on New York's night patrolling vigilantes, the Hunter, was spotted last night preventing a break in to a small apartment down on Baker street. The civilians are all okay, but were only able to get small glances of the Hunter through their windows before they disappeared from the scene."_

Looking back to the screen, Mikey and me titled our heads as a blurry picture of a person in a dark hood and mask stood above the city.

_Oh, now here is someone that has definitely got the talk of the town. We've got the Night Watcher, and the Hunter. Both of these guys have been going around for the past couple months catching bad guys and stopping crime. Though the Night Watcher is kind of a newbie. The Hunter has been around for a few years. _

"I like the Hunter too!' Mikey pointed at the screen. "They are like Batman too. They come in, save the day, then disappear without a trace." He wiggled his fingers.

"Yeah. I heard people like the Hunter a little bit more." I nodded my head.

"Huh? Why?"

"I dunno." I shrugged. "I guess because the Hunter seems more… Human, or whatever. They don't wear a giant suit of armor or cause much property damage. Plus, they have been around a bit longer. People have gotten use to the Hunter being around."

"That's weird." Mikey blinked.

"Yeah. They seem cool though. I heard they stopped a drug deal down on the coast a few weeks ago." I winked.

"Those guys are so cool!" Mikey squealed at the information. "I remember stopping drug deals!"

Chuckling, I tilted my head at him. "I remember when the boys and you went out every night to beat up bad guys."

"Yeah." Mikey sighed dreamily. "Busting up crime syndicates. Sure they had a bunch of guns, bun they weren't like these guns!" Mikey flexed his muscles.

I whistled, throwing some popcorn at him. "Put those things away Mikey. You're gonna hurt someone!'.

_I can't believe he knows how to use 'syndicates' properly in a sentence._

Suddenly behind us, my other nephew Donatello appeared, drinking a pop. "Why do you do this to yourself Mikey?" he sighed. "Those glory days are over. Forget about them. Get on with your life." He moved to the table.

_Well, first time I've seen him in a week and that is all he has to say?_

Frowning at his brother, Mikey waved him off.

Watching Donatello move towards the Kitchen table, I shrugged. "I dunno Donnie. I think I would prefer fighting bad guys over fighting off little kid's germs. But hey, that is just me." I held up my hands

"Yeah, exactly." Mikey grumbled, the mood officially killed by his older brother.

The room was suddenly quiet, no one willing to say anything. Not wanting to stay in such an awkward atmosphere any longer, I stretched my hands over my head. "…Hey Mikey. Guess what?"  
"What?" he titled his head.

"I wanted to wait till we got back to the lair, which is where we are now. Guess what I have." I smirked at him. _I have a present for him. _

Confused, he squinted his eyes at me.

Reaching into my jacket, I paused for dramatic affect before pulling out, a DVD. Unsure, Mikey eyed the DVD suspiciously.

It wasn't till he got a closer look that he realized it wasn't a DVD… it was a game.

Gasping, he snatched the game out of my hands to slam it into his face. "DUDE! I-I-Is this… what I think it is?!" he squealed in delight.

"The new game we saw on TV called… BIOSHOCK?! Why yes, yes it is!" I started to bounce with him. _We had been waiting weeks for this to come out! And I finally got my hands on it! I promised to play it with him, and I am a woman of my word!_

"AHHH!" Mikey flipped backwards with a cheer. "What are we waiting for?! Lets go play!" he grabbed my wrist and yanked me towards the back room where all the game constellations were set up.

Watching us go, Arinna rolled her eyes. "Make sure you turn on all the lights!" she called. "It isn't good for your eyes to play videogames in the dark"

"Okay!" We called, only half listening to what she said.

_I'll be honest with you all, it is a really good thing Mikey and me just rushed out of the room just now. If was had stayed for just a minute longer, we would have seen Raphael slink out of his room. _

_No one wants to be around a grumpy Raphie when he wakes up. _

_Long like Bioshock!_

**_Hey guys! First off, I am so sorry it took me so long to update! I sort of got distracted with my new story 0.0 Don't worry though, I haven't forgotten about any of my other TMNT stories! :D Thank you all so much for sticking with me! Thought I would do this chapter through Nicole's POV. I've never done a chapter in Nicole's POV before. First time for everything! :D_**

**_Also! I started doing this in my other stories, and I thought I would do it here as well. I'm gonna reply to your reviews! :D It is really fun to do, so here we go!_**

**_REVIEW REPLIES:_**

**_EpicThunder101:_**_Fast Food places hold dark secrets Sebastian. Keep your eyes open for all suspicious movements when going to Fast food places. If the people taking your order give you creepy smiles, it means they poisoned your food!__  
_

**_Grapejuice101:_**_Thank you! I promise to update faster this time! :D_

**_Erica. Phoenix16:_**Yeah. Raphael and Arinna are there for each other :D They got each other's back!

**TenTenbaby: **I always notice your name when you review XD Thank you so much for being such a constant reviewer :D

**Orihime-san: **The last chapter was kind of depressing, wasn't it? Well, I tried to brighten the mood a bit in this chapter! :D Thank you for the review!

**angelchamp3: **Thank you! I'm glad you like the story! :D

**IloveRaphael: **Haha, I like your profile name XD Thank you for the review!

**CatGirlFireFlare: **I am completed addicted to Tetris. My parents are actually worried I'm too addicted XD I can't wait to bring Leo back into the story as well! Man is there gonna be some tears and drama!

**Purplemoon1652:** Oops. Sorry about that. XD It is the Jungle, isn't it? However, I think you meant to say '5'3 '5'4. Because '6'3 is huge! That is bigger than Max Winters. In the movie it shows that both Casey and April are taller than the turtles, and you can safely assume April is at least 5'5 to 5'7. I'm not sure.

**the potato one: **Oh my gosh, I love your name! XD I think Arinna would find the 80's version of the turtles absolutely adorable! She would love them and find them so cute! XD


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